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Blog written by classical dressage rider Sandra Beaulieu. Regular posts about current events, how-to articles, training tips & advice, behind-the-scenes at shows & films, new photos, videos, and more! Read all about training Friesians for dressage and how to ride with a bitless bridle.

I came across an interesting video on YouTube of Julio Mendoza practicing his Pan Am Games freestyle with a GoPro camera. I contacted his freestyle designer, Equichord, to learn more and ended up having a wonderful chat with Cece Maddlone.... She is very knowledgeable and passionate about designing musical freestyles. She took the time to write an article, giving us a behind-the-scenes look at the creation process for Julio's freestyle. Thank you so much CeCe! Enjoy the article!

Developing a Musical Freestyle for the 2015 Pan Am Games with EquiChordby Frank and CeCe Maddlone

INTRODUCTIONIt is always exciting when we get the opportunity to work with dedicated and talented professionals who take the freestyle process seriously. Julio Mendoza is one of those professionals. Our overall goal is to create premium quality freestyles. This means creating a design that demands the highest in technical accuracy, musicality, and appeal; not only from the riding side, but the artistic side as well. There is as high a level of technical demands for the rider on the artistic side as there is on the riding side. We have developed our own intensive and hands-on process that is designed to help the rider achieve that goal. Once a rider has established a solid foundation in the technique, they are then free to add the dynamics of emotion and performance to the ride. In the end, that is what we want to create, and audiences want to see. Ultimately, achieving this takes a commitment of time and attention on the part of the rider. The best way to show how we approach this undertaking is to run through the entire process. Julio’s freestyle journey to the 2015 Pan Am Games with Chardonnay is a perfect example of how we work.

FALL 2014Julio and Jessica Mendoza called upon EquiChord, as they were excited to have several new horses for whom they wanted to develop freestyles - seven, to be exact. All the horses were of very high quality, ranging from First Level to Intermediare 1. They were also a wonderful array of breeds and personalities ranging from Friesians toOldenburgs. One in particular was a huge focus of our attention - a 2005 Oldenburg chestnut gelding named Chardonnay. Julio had set a goal of qualifying for the 2015 Pan Am Games. In order to achieve this, he had to compile his qualifying scores by the end of May - to include a freestyle score. For us, this was a definite challenge. Since we strongly believe in having plenty of time to practice and perfect each freestyle, regardless of the level, our time was already rapidly ticking away.

DECEMBER 2014When we first met with Julio and Jessica to discuss their horse, they brought us a video from a recent clinic. Chardonnay (or Chardy, as he is known by his family and fans) was a new acquisition for Julio, and he was just starting to work with him. Chardy was beautiful, and you could certainly see that he was extremely talented and expressive. However, he was very uneven - so much so that his trot was extremely difficult to match to a steady BPM. There was no consistent rhythm, and there was lack of flexion to the right due to a former shoulder injury. Needless to say, we were a bit worried. Without rhythm, you cannot have the fundamentals of dressage or music. The Mendoza’s expressed that they wanted to use music that was more contemporary and easily recognizable. This always makes things even more challenging for us, because even though contemporary music is fun, much of it can be pretty uneventful since it is mostly a collection of loops with a vocal track. And, since we are limited to using only a few vocals throughout the course of a freestyle, contemporary music minus the underlying vocal tracks can sound more like muzak, or just a collection of never-ending loops. We put together a couple of samples for them, based on what we saw as possible fits, and passed along our recommendations. In our mind, once Chardy became more even and correct, he was going to develop into a lighter horse with a good staccato movement. Therefore, overly heavy or driving music would certainly overwhelm him. Chardy is also a very sensitive horse, so we wanted to ensure that he didn’t overreact to the music and become tense. Certain tonalities do not resonate well with some horses, so these considerations are always a part of the selection process. Jessica and Julio liked two of the roughs we put together, and together we ultimately decided on one. However, our choice was only a part of the selection process; we had to see if Chardy would respond positively to it.

JANUARY - 6.5 MONTHS TO THE PAN AM GAMESWe went to Julio’s farm to work with Chardy, and to get some insights on a few other horses. As we played the different pieces of music, we were looking for selections that would help Chardy find his rhythm. Julio had already made progress with him, and his cadence (i.e. how each footfall evenly matches the music’s rhythm) was improving. One of the selections we had on hand was a medley of U2’s music. We were all very excited to see how Chardy found his rhythm when we played the track! It was settled; that would be his music.

OUR TO DO LIST:1. Finish the music and choreographic design2. Run through it again in person to ensure the moves worked3. Give Julio the music, the choreographic counts, and a voiceover so he maypractice the freestyle when off the horse.

FEBRUARY - 5.5 MONTHS TO THE PAN AM GAMESDue to the scarcity of approved CDIs in our area, Julio needed to travel to Florida to get his qualifying scores. This gave us under a month to pull everything together. With his attention focused on acquiring the scores needed for qualifying, the freestyle fell into a lower priority level on the practice list. To make matters more challenging, Julio’s facilities back home did not have a regulation size indoor arena. So this made practicing the freestyle that much more difficult once he returned home. To help alleviate these challenges, Julio transported Chardy to a friend’s farm to use their indoor arena to practice. At this stage of the process, we still had not run through the entire test. It was truly amazing to see the progress Chardy was making. His gaits were stronger, and far more supple and rhythmic. However, he still was unable to consistently run through the freestyle. For us, this meant that we were not quite certain if the freestyle needed to be modified, or even worked. Since Chardy was still having problems rhythmical matching the steps, we couldn’t accurately count out the movements to the music. Based on what we had initially recorded, Chardy would need more counts than average to complete the movements. We had to go back to the studio and find a musically correct way to accommodate his odd sets of beats. As a result, we felt that it wouldn’t be prudent for Julio to try and show the freestyle while in Florida. Instead, we suggested that he afford Chardy more time to find himself. Once Julio had him where he needed him to be, we could introduce the freestyle again. However, time was a component that we had little of.

MARCH - 4.5 MONTHS TO THE PAN AM GAMESDuring this month, Julio competed Chardonnay to Florida. In the meantime, we took this opportunity to work on the music and anticipate the changes that may need to happen in the choreography. We devised several plans to help support Chardy through the music, while ensuring that Julio had what he needed to perform the movements technically correct.

APRIL - 3.5 MONTHS TO THE PAN AM GAMESPractice #1The weather was nice enough to practice outside in the beautiful regulation-sized arena. Chardy was also getting better and better during this time. However, he seemed to be developing some tension during the freestyle. Frank and I were worried that the music may be causing the tension, and suggested that we might want to try something different since time was running out. Julio wanted to work through the music, so he began playing the music for Chardy in the barn every night. Julio also noted that he might be causing the tension himself, as he had not had enough time to listen to the music and voiceover files in earnest, or really focus on learning the test. There was just so much time in each day, and Julio and Jessica were extremely careful not to overwork Chardy. We asked Julio to ride through the test without the music; to perform the movements in a way that he felt was the most comfortable, and to do them as technically perfect as possible. We filmed the ride and took the tape back to the studio to score the music underneath it.

OUR TO DO LIST:1. We make some more tweaks to the choreography and the music.2. We sent Julio a new count sheet and the video with adjusted music so he could see (as well as hear) the cues and where each should fall matching his ride. We were happily surprised to see that it fit almost perfectly - and Julio needed to see that. All that was needed was enough practice time so that both horse and rider could feel confident in what they were doing. At this stage, they needed to trust each other and the music.

Practice #2BEST EVER!!! Almost perfect. We ran through it once and stopped.1. We mastered and EQ’ed the music with the new adjustments, then formatted it and sent them the digital copies so they could generate the CDs.

MAY - 2.5 MONTHS TO THE PAN AM GAMESDuring this time, Julio had to go to Canada to do two sets of shows in order to get his scores. Time was running out. This was it. He had to perform his freestyle.

FIRST SHOW:Chardy’s freestyle came in 5th in an international field of riders!! The highest artistic score was a 77% and Chardy received a 75%!!!! Riders and officials complimented the Mendozas on their music.

SECOND SHOW:RESERVE CHAMPION!! This is what we needed to see. Julio was going to the Games.

JUNE - 1.5 MONTHS TO THE PAN AM GAMESJulio had a very busy and tight show, clinic, and training schedule this month. They booked a practice session for one of Julio’s rare open slots. Although the Canadian trip was very successful, there were still some sections of the freestyle where we needed to work on the timing. During the next practice session, we worked solely on nailing the timing with the cues. It was hard to believe that this was the same horse we saw in January. Now, he was happy, strong, supple, and right on in every movement. His technique was getting solid, and we could now begin working in earnest on the nuances and performance components of the freestyle so it will shine.

LOCAL SHOWCHAMPION!!!!

JULY - 10 DAYS BEFORE THEY LEAVE FOR CANADABecause Chardy had come so far, his movements, timing, and rhythm had changed dramatically. Once again, we had to adjust the music. He was able to enter and exit compulsory movements more quickly, cleaner, and with greater precision. This meant that we had to edit out the additional music we had inserted earlier in the process. He no longer needed it, as it was causing Julio to hold him back in order to stay with the cues. That simply could not happen. He needed to flow fluidly from one movement to the next without having to alter the horse’s rhythm or frame.

FINAL PRACTICE BEFORE PAN AM’sWe couldn’t practice with Chardy because something wasn’t right. We were all very worried. It seemed to be just a bit of tightness, so the chiropractor came out to confirm the observation. This meant that Julio would not be able to ride to the new music beforehe showed it at the Pan Am Games. This was truly nerve-racking. Instead, we sat down with Julio to count through the entire test over and over again. Frank recorded another voiceover for Julio; this time in Spanish, so that Julio could have both English and Spanish versions to listen to. Julio said he was going to listen to it in the truck all the way up to Canada.

THE GAMESChardy did the best all-around test of his life. In a field of international competitors, during the first year when the Pan Am Games were now brought up to Olympic standards, Julio ended up 17th in the freestyles. That was amazing!!!

IN CONCLUSIONAnky van Grunsven was, undoubtedly, the best at putting together winning freestyles. She once said that she would never show her freestyle until it had been practiced at least 200 times. In the grand scheme of things, that amounted to a year’s worth of work that she would tuck away under her belt before showing. We only had the opportunity to work with Julio a handful of times, and with a horse that was just coming into his own. The music and choreography were constantly changing to adjust to the developing horse, and all within time and space limitations. Despite it all, Julio and Chardy worked extremely hard, listened to our input and, in the end, rode a performance that was trulythe stuff of dreams.

What an awesome article and interview, it really shows the dedication and time commitment that goes into a freestyle of that level. I encourage you to connect with Equichord and the Mendozas on Facebook and visit their websites. The links are down below. Please let me know your thoughts by posting a comment and/or question here on the blog or you can email me at beginthedance@gmail.com.

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Begin the Dance is owned and operated by Sandra Beaulieu, a USDF Bronze & Silver Medalist, USDF "L" Graduate and clinician that travels throughout New England and Florida. She offers dressage services such as online coaching, instruction, clinics and judging as well as an online store featuring clothing and gift products with her original calligraphy designs. Website also features a Blog, Photo & Video Gallery, and links to Social Media.

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Hello! My name is Sandra Beaulieu, I am a dressage clinician, freestyle designer, performer, and equine artist. I am here to help you with all things creative with your horse! Learn more about my background.

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